March 2011

March 28, 2011

I made this card to help celebrate Michael Strong's 15 year anniversary of designing rubber stamps. Click here to read his interesting story! You'll also see some new stamp images he has coming out. I just got the Kimono! I can't wait to design with it!

This card measures 4 1/2 x 6" and has 15 elements on it to celebrate 15 years.

Stamp flower and leaf images on the smoother side of the watercolor paper, sprinkle with embossing powder and heat set.

Using three shades of a color family to watercolor the images: starting with the lightest color, fill in a section, leaving a small white space. Use a waterbrush to spread the color in the area. After it dries, add the next darkest color - laying down less color - spread it with the water brush. After it dries, I add a small amount of the darkest color and spread that. TIP: When watercoloring, wet one section at a time so you don't get hard lines. Always start with a clean brush in the lightest area and move to your darkest area.

Cut the images out.

Cut the design card stock so that one complete flower pot is the focal point. Use the VersaMark Marker to draw a stem and add a line over the black swirl. Sprinkle emboss powder and heat set.

Adhere layers to the base card. TIP: The liquid adhesive allows you more time to shimmy and position paper pieces.

Adhere all pieces onto top layer of card. Use Crystal Effects and a toothpick for the Dew Drops.

Adhere a piece of design card stock inside for the note. The pattern is light enough to write over.

March 23, 2011

I'm making progress! I had to change my process though. Rather than un-mounting, mounting on EZMount, then printing the label and stamping the cover. I started focusing on un-mounting - that way I did not have to clean up my space and change out my supplies often. I decided to focus on un-mounting.

Where I am now: I have un-mounted the rest of my Stampin' Up rubber stamps (except for a few I decided to keep mounted)! I had to order more SU! cases and more EZMount. :o) As I was un-mounting, I used an empty SU! case to arrange the images and also printed label sheets. After un-mounting and arranging sets, I put the images back into their original plastic bins with the wood for now.

If the cases arrive first, I'll place the rubber and name stickers in the cases and wait for the EZMount. Once I get my EZMount, I can mount the rubber and stamp the images on the label pages.

If the EZMount arrives first, I'll mount the rubber, stamp the images on the label pages and wait for the cases. Once I get the cases, I can just place the images and name stickers inside.

March 18, 2011

This weekend at Sunday International enjoy "FREE" shipping w/on your entire order w/ the purchase of any Mike Strong stamp. Enter coupon code "STRONG" during checkout & purchase any Mike Strong stamp to receive "FREE" shipping. This offer applies to all accounts within the U.S. Offer is only valid till Sunday March 20th.

March 15, 2011

I made a four leaf clover card using Mike's mini heart shape. I used a piece of background design paper I made a couple weeks ago. Click here to see how made the background paper. When I make a design paper for a project, I always make extra for "later." :o) This card was really quick.

March 14, 2011

Sharing a spring scene I did for a swap. Although, it really looks more like summer. :o) I am so ready for warmer weather and sunshine!!

In addition to the tips I shared [click here to see them] for building a scene, in this one I used the blender pen to move color around in the cabin to give it a warn look. I think because the Cryogen card stock is ultra smooth, it worked! I love working with this card stock. Sending a big shout out to Sandy Hulsart for telling me about it! Sandy also teaches Scenic Stamping (and other classes) at My Creative Classroom. I just signed up for a Digital Stamping Class she'll be teaching in the spring.

March 07, 2011

UPDATE: 3/7/2011 Please see the comments section of this post from my stampin' sister Linda for additional tips for cutting out rubber images. She also makes a suggestion of what to do with the wooden blocks. I have a post on that - click here.

For some time now, I've been been thinking about un-mounting my wooden stamps. Wooden stamps take up a lot of space! I was recently inspired by my stampin sister Linda to just do it!

There are some images I will choose to keep on wood. For example, I have several that have colored images on the wood - I want to keep those as a color guide. There are others that may be side & top mounted, or that I just like mounted. As I go through them, I'll decide. One area where I'm moving 100% of mounted to un-mounted - my largest collection of wood mounted stamps - are my Stampin' Up! stamps. Sending a BIG SHOUT OUT to Stampin' Up! for adding un-mounted images to their product line!! They call them "clear," however the images are the same good quality rubber as on their mounted version. You can see through the acrylic block, thus clear. ;o)

For the last couple of years I have not mounted my SU! images. I've placed them on EZMount. There are two types of cushion - regular and thin. It's a matter of personal preference. If you like a lot of "cush" when you stamp, pick the regular. I have my mounted images stored in their cases on a CD/DVD case and my un-mounted images stored in a binder. Looking forward, they will all be together. I like togetherness. :o)

My journey begins....

First I made the decision that I really wanted this change and acknowledged to myself that it will take time and effort. I also wanted the benefit of having all my SU! together in one area. I would not have to try to remember if a set was mounted or un-mounted.

Next, I thought about the time table - I wanted to set up a schedule that is attainable. I received a request that helped me with my time table - it's something I'm excited about. I'll share more about that in a future post. Back to my journey....

Because I have so many SU! images, I choose to keep them in alphabetical order. To get maximum storage on the CD/DVD case, I organized my sets by size, then alphabetical order. Another driver for this change is that I want to save my energy for creating, not use it on searching. :o) I started stacking all the As, Bs, Cs, etc....

I took the As and put them in alphabetical order.

Now comes the tedious part - the un-mounting. The good news with SU! images is, they come off the sponge mounting pretty easy. I found three scenarios. (1) they peal right off without any residue - clean, (2) they peal of with some sticky residue. It's very similar to Aleene's tack it over & over glue, and (3) they peal right off with a dry coating.

For scenario (1), I placed the rubber directly on EZMount. Scenario (2) I left the residue on and will use as is. It sticks nicely to the acrylic block and does not leave any sticky. Scenario (3) I found I could just rub the majority off with my thumbs. I did have to use a little "elbow grease," but it comes off clean. If I can not get it off by rubbing, I use an adhesive remover (I use Duck Adhesive Remover). NOTE: If you do decide to use EZMount for your images, I highly recommend purchasing a hot knife. It makes cutting out your images so easy and quick. You can also use quality craft scissors. You can precondition them with a non stick spray (I've heard some people just use PAM) or you'll have to clean them often.

After my images are ready to store, I started placing them in storage cases. I decided to use the SU! cases. That way, when I buy new SU! images, I'll just stick them in alphabetical order on my CD/DVD case. Depending on the size of the set, I can get three or four sets in one case!!

The SU! cases have a space to slide paper or card stock in so you can label it. Using my PC, I created a template. I update the template with the name of the sets that will be in that case. I stamp the images in the blank area - using a different color ink for each set. For the sets where I saved the little sticker with the number in the set, I peel it off and place it inside the new storage case.

What a great reduction in space!! In the photo I now have 28 sets in the a much smaller space!

If anyone has any ideas on what to do with the wood pieces and all the plastic cases, please leave me a comment.

March 05, 2011

For this months ATC trade our theme is architecture. I wanted to do a shimmering background and use supplies I bought but had not used yet. :o)

Spritz watercolor paper with water. Use paint brush to spread Shimmerz paints around in random fashion. Dip the brush in water to help spread color smoothly. Use a variety of colors to fill sheet of paper.

While paper is still wet, spritz with Tim Holtz recipefor Perfect Pearl mist recipe. I used gold Perfect Pearls and yellow ink mixture. Dab randomly with a paper towel.

Allow paper to dry. TIP: If your paper is curled when it dries, set heavy books on top over night to flatten.

Cut into ATC size - 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.

In up images with black ink and stamp on individual ATCs.

Ink up images with gold ink and stamp on individual ATCs, sprinkle with embossing powder and heat set.

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